Deepak Unpacked - Modularity in Games
Modularity Theory
Modular pieces are meshes that connect together to create a larger environment without having to create unique assets. For example here’s an environmental piece from the Last of Us: Part 2
Different pieces can be used to create a story, even though all these assets are duplicated. You can use unique assets to break up an environment
Piece by Jad Saber
These pieces are generally in uniform sizes which can snap to a grid, so these wall tiles can snap together to create a house! Break down your references into modular pieces, think about how these smaller pieces can create a larger structure. Fallout 4 New Vegas:
From a simple modular kit you can snap together an environment that looks unique although it uses repeated parts. This same modular kit could be used for tens or hundreds of houses.
The benefits of modularity:
It saves time - no need to make too many unique assets
It’s optimised - Same pieces can use the same texture sets or variants of the same texture sets
You have to think about how each of these pieces will connect together, for example the walls in the example above could be 2m x 2m so that they connect both vertically and horizontally. Using standard dimensions will make sure that the pieces will connect together, allowing flexibility in making different layouts.
Usage In Production
If creating a large building that’s 20 metres, you can’t really use a 1024 or 2k texture map for the whole thing, it’ll appear all blurry with terrible pixilation! If you split it up into smaller modules and using Tile Maps. So you can use a 4m x 4m mesh that’s using a 2k texture map, which will give 1024 of texture resolution per two metres
If you use this wall 5 times vertically you can create a 20m building while using the same texture set. If you’re worried about repeating patterns, then you can use things like mesh decals or even creating a texture set variant to add variety to the structure.
Maybe try adding unique assets to break up the structure like a lantern or pipes.
A simple texture swap can completely change the look and feel of an environment. The geometry can be exactly the same but the story is different.